Latest News

M&E 2009 showcases industry optimism

M&E – The Building Services Event, the UK’s only dedicated building services event, welcomed 33% more visitors* than last year when the 2009 event took place from 7 – 8 October at London Olympia.

Adrian Newton, Portfolio Director for Safety and Building Management at UBM Live, organisers of M&E, said: “We regularly consult the industry to ensure we develop the best possible show and we feel we hit the spot in 2009. We expanded the features and educational programmes to give our visitors an unrivalled experience and made sure that those in attendance were able to address all their professional needs under one roof. The success in the development of the event is reflected in the substantial increase in our visitor numbers and the fact that 52% of our exhibitors have already rebooked for 2010.”

Education has long played a pivotal role at M&E and 2009 was no different with two dedicated seminar theatres hosting informative free-of-charge educational programmes. The Training Academy, sponsored by SummitSkills, returned for 2009 to host the Sustainable Reality Seminar Series – the new programme of seminars looking at whether sustainability is achievable in an economic downturn. Speakers included:

• Ian Shaw, Environmental and Energy Officer, London Fire Brigade
• Nigel Hursthouse, Distributed Energy Project Manager, Marks and Spencer
• Dr Paul Davidson, Director for Sustainable Energy, BRE
• Terry Dix, Director, Arup

Presentations were delivered on the most cutting-edge issues facing the industry including ‘Can Sustainability Mean Profitability for M&E?’, ‘The Business Case for Low Carbon Projects’, ‘The Enforcement of Part L 2010’ and ‘Greening the Building Envelope’.

Visitors were also able to receive valuable CPD credits when they listened to accredited exhibitors about their latest products and technological innovations in The CPD Seminar Theatre. Industry leading companies including Earth Energy, Vent Axia, Thermo Floor and EcoCooling were amongst the presenters. In addition, the Green500 Energy Efficient IT Conference took place alongside the event on Thursday 8th October.

2009 also saw the introduction of new features to compliment the established mainstays of the event including Be2Camp at Working Buildings - a facilitated, participant-driven "unconference" centered around Web 2.0 and the built environment.

The interactive feature “Workplace of the Future”, sponsored by Hi-Design and supported by FX and FMX, showcased the latest products and innovations for making the workplace more efficient whilst remaining sustainable and cost effective.

Feedback from exhibitors at M&E – The Building Services Event clearly demonstrate the event’s success:

Graham Martin, Chairman of EnOcean Alliance, said: “M&E 2009 was a very successful show for the EnOcean Alliance, its supporting partners and members. There was a marked increase in visitor attendance from last year and we were more than satisfied with the high quality enquiries and leads we received. It was the ideal platform to display our range of smart energy management products and winning two awards really adds momentum to our activities in the UK market.”

Rebecca Johnson, Head of Marketing & Communications (UK & Ireland) for Baxi Commercial Division, said: “This is one of the major opportunities for us to launch new solutions and showcase our products in London and we were pleased with the footfall on our stand during both days. The effort we put in before the show to invite customers to visit our stand was well rewarded and we believe that the work of the organisers to promote the show paid dividends in terms of both numbers attending and the quality of visitors.”

Jim Malone, Sales Director at Ventcroft Ltd, said: “M&E – The Building Services Event gave us a fantastic opportunity to get our message to the front end of the supply chain; we were delighted that the visitor quality we were looking for was provided. Our aim at the show was to speak directly to major consultant, design and contracting companies about our NoBurn fire cable and its new CID Cable Identity Detection system – mission accomplished!”

Supported by CIBSE, ECA and HVCA, M&E – The Building Services Event was co-located with Total Workplace Management, the UK’s largest FM and estates event, and Energy Solutions Expo, the UK’s fastest growing energy management event, as part of Working Buildings 2009.